Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details. There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under U.S. patronage,” he said.

But the defense minister also said that any immediate NATO response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, while important, matter less than a long-term shift in the defense postures of Europe and America. The United States, having announced a “pivot” to Asia, needs to “re-pivot” to Europe, he said, and European countries that have cut back on defense spending need to reverse the trends.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday the door is open to larger U.S. military rotations through Poland, including ground troops, as the international standoff persists over Russian incursions into Ukraine.

Hagel briefed reporters at the Pentagon after a meeting with Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who came to Washington in search of more American soldiers, warplanes and support troops to help bolster security in a country nervously eyeing Russia’s expansionist behavior.

“We have to be alert to all possibilities,” he said. “The actions of the Russians over the last two months are not only irresponsible, with violating the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation, they’re dangerously irresponsible … [NATO’s role is to] think through, what are the possibilities, what could happen, so yes, based on past actions, we have to look at every possibility.”

Hagel said the U.S. has protested an encounter last weekend in which a Russian Su-24 Fencer attack jet buzzed the destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea. Previously, defense officials had said they’d had no contact with the Russians about it, but Hagel said commanders have made their displeasure quite clear.

“And, with continued instability in the Middle East, Iran’s ongoing effort to develop long-range missiles and nuclear technology, and Putin’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine, I believe we must take immediate steps to deploy a robust missile defense in Europe – especially Poland and the Czech Republic – to protect the interests of our NATO allies and the United States in the region.”

Quite the deescalation we have here. These NeoLibs are determined to get us in another war. It’s all they’ve got left. The blame everybody else game is growing old, the race card has a dog eared corner it’s been played so much, scandals won’t go away as easily now, Republicans might actually take the Senate and no one believes a word spoken by anyone in DC. War baby yea! Here we go. It’s all they have left; or did I already say that?

The President has been slow, but at least he’s sending troops to Poland.
Sending Hagel to talk tough to the Chinese was a good, but kinda late, move as well.

About 99% of what this administration does is absolute folly, but when they take steps in the right direction, we ought to give credit where it’s due.

Let’s hope that Mr Obama’s upcoming visit to (my new home of) the Philippines won’t be to push the homosexual agenda & abortion rights on this country (again), but rather to lecture the Chinese some more.

Is it just me, or does Hagel make you cringe whenever he talks because it seems everything he says appears so tentative. He gives me no confidence whatsoever in the Dept. Of Defense. But I’m sure the Ruskies and Chinese think he’s scary…

But the defense minister also said that any immediate NATO response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, while important, matter less than a long-term shift in the defense postures of Europe and America. The United States, having announced a “pivot” to Asia, needs to “re-pivot” to Europe, he said, and European countries that have cut back on defense spending need to reverse the trends.

Or maybe get of the nation building business in the Islamic world. If we are going to keep sufficient military forces in Europe to contain Russia and Asia to contain China, without totally bankrupting the country we are going to have stop trying to police the Islamic world.

If Jihadist attack us, you find a suitable Muslim country and level it from the air. That is a realist hawkish foreign policy…like Reagan had, not what Bush had.

How much military force does a global superpower require? Answering this question has challenged U.S. leaders and defense planners for more than 20 years. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States found itself the world’s sole superpower, but one without a significant adversary against which to measure the adequacy of its military capabilities. In the immediate aftermath of the first Gulf War, U.S. leaders decided to use the requirement to conduct two major regional conventional contingencies (MRCs) at the same time as the basis for sizing the U.S. military. Every subsequent review of U.S. defense policy and programs has reaffirmed the two-war standard. In fact, every Administration for the past two decades found that a force sized to fight two wars was essential for meeting the ongoing demands for forward presence, crisis response, regional deterrence, humanitarian assistance, building partnership capacity, homeland defense, and support to civil authorities.

What it takes:

Based on some 20 years of analyses and studies as well as the experiences of Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom, a two-MRC force should generally consist of 10 Active and eight Reserve Component Army divisions, two to three Marine Expeditionary Forces, 11 aircraft carriers, 120 large surface naval combatants, 38 large amphibious warfare ships, 200 strategic bombers, 20 tactical fighter wings, 400–500 tankers, and 250 airlifters. Such a force would need support from a wide range of enabling capabilities, such as special operations forces; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; cyber defenses; air and missile defenses; and space systems.

The Obama Effect:

Today’s military is too small to meet the two-MRC test credibly. Moreover, the qualitative advantage that the U.S. military has long enjoyed is eroding as advanced military capabilities proliferate around the world. The capabilities of U.S. forces are also deteriorating as platforms and systems age and as critical modernization programs are delayed or even cancelled.

The fantastical truth:

Building a two-MRC force for the 21st century means increasing the size of the U.S. military, modernizing existing platforms and systems, and investing in advanced air, sea, and land capabilities. This will require resources above the levels proposed by the Obama Administration. Over the next decade, building a reasonable two-MRC force for the 21st century will cost roughly $70 billion more per year than the projected cost of the current defense program, which averages approximately $550 billion per year.

Building a two-MRC force for the 21st century means increasing the size of the U.S. military, modernizing existing platforms and systems, and investing in advanced air, sea, and land capabilities. This will require resources above the levels proposed by the Obama Administration. Over the next decade, building a reasonable two-MRC force for the 21st century will cost roughly $70 billion more per year than the projected cost of the current defense program, which averages approximately $550 billion per year.

Let us just admit that we have a potemkin economy, and in as much as it is, it cannot even maintain itself without the periodic destruction of competitor economies.

Question is, will there be any employment left other than government troops with subsidized housing, subsidized food, subsidized marriage pay, and locality pay?

I would love for Pence to run, but seeing HA push him makes me fear he will be judged guilty by association ( you know with the squishy HA editors and what not)

MWC_RS on April 18, 2014 at 7:54 PM

There are so many things wrong with what this suggests about your decision-making process. If you like the guy and think he comports with your principles, back him. If other people you think are squishes also back him (and I’m not backing anyone, for the record, but have written nice things about Pence since he was bucking the Bush big-gov’t programs in 2005), maybe they’re not quite the squishes you thing they are. Good Lord.

Poland and European countries need to pay for US troops in Eastern Europe as well as in Western Europe. Little known to most Americans is that the US pays each Western European country it has troops in many billions each year for the privilege of defending Europeans.

Poland and European countries need to pay for US troops in Eastern Europe as well as in Western Europe. Little known to most Americans is that the US pays each Western European country it has troops in many billions each year for the privilege of defending Europeans

We have a treaty , with Poland and others. If you want to change it, change the treaty ( might be difficult since Germany and co. aren’t inclined to renegotiate the treaty)

What really happened was this
1) Fascists take over Eastern Ukraine
2) Overzealous members start immediately demanding Jews register or face deportation, confiscation of wealth, loss of citizenship, etc.
3) Western Media begins reporting these disturbing events.
4) Word gets to the Fascist leaders who realize how bad that makes them look ( don’t think for a second they wouldn’t register Jews if they could get away with it)
5) Leaders issue denials.

I should note that at least one of the statements did not deny responsibility for the flyers, they only refused to “endorse the contents”
In other words Fascists got caught being Fascists and quickly apologized. And of course denied being fascists.

I can just about double damn guarantee you that in at lest half the mosques right here in America, and there are about twice as many now as on 9/11/2001, they have called for a lot more than ‘just’ registering Jews. Lets invade a few of them first and they are a lot closer and less well armed than the Russians.

We are skeptical about the flier’s authenticity – Anti-Defamation League

Flier calling on Donetsk Jews to register now widely seen as fake – Haaretz

“NCSJ has contacted the Donetsk Jewish community leaders, who called the flyers a provocation. They said that all authorities have denied any connection to the flyers, and that Pushilin has denied authorship,” the NCSJ says. “Several members of the community went to the Nationalities Commissioner, who repudiated the flyer, and said that the leaflets were distributed to cause unrest among the Jewish population.”

The group adds that similar leaflets have been distributed targeting international students at the local university.

National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) is a leading US organization advocating on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and Eurasia.

A peacekeeping mission to Poland? The place with beautiful women that cook awesome food, and serve it up with great beer … that Poland? The place with no sand, no haboobs, no oil fires, and no fly-borne flesh-eating disease … that Poland?

Just a reminder: what happened was a fascist coup, supported by America and the EU, that smashed the elected government of Ukraine and imposed rule by oligarchs more criminal and corrupt than those deposed, plus strong anti-Russian ethnic prejudice against Russian-speaking Eastern and Southern Ukrainians.

Before that, Putin was doing nothing. He was not the aggressor; the coup-plotters, including Victoria Nuland, were the aggressors.

If the rat eared, dog eating mongrel would have honored our commitment to build the missile shield in Poland and had he not decimated our overall commitment to a strong military posture, he would not find himself in the position of being the laughingstock of the world and Putin’s beotch. Just sayin’…

I see the Blame America First crowd, having fully destroyed any patriotism in the Democrat party has moved on to the limping husk of the GOP.
God help us.

MWC_RS on April 18, 2014 at 9:14 PM

God is not about to help us, my friend. When Israel comes under attack, (and it WILL soon enough), America will abrogate our commitment to help them militarily, thus infuriating the Lord to the point that He will cease to Bless our once great nation with all we have been given by Him. Abandoning His chosen people will cause Him to abandon us, and the result will be the utter devastation of the United States of America. Call me crazy if you wish, but author John Price has written a very compelling book on the subject. I highly recommend that folks here read it. And read it again, for good measure. It is quite accurate from a Biblical and prophetic as well as historical perspective. Check it out, y’all:

We need to get out of Afghanistan, because we are more of a strategic benefit to the Russians there than we are for ourselves.

William Eaton on April 18, 2014 at 7:50 PM

Assuming Abdullah abdullah won, we should ask him to bring in Indian support troops to free our exit to the European or Asian front. The Pakistanis who have been hosing us monetarily and militarily would go ape that their rear is no longer covered from invasion in a confrontation with India, but they have earned it.

If Obama hadn’t screwed Poland over the missile shield, we wouldn’t be in this spot we’re in now, anyway. And just watch…he’ll find a way to screw this mission up as well. The man is a spineless weasel and his Defense Secretary is a blithering, incompetent buffoon. This will not end well, and I think you know it as well…

According to The Guardian, the foreign donours included the U.S. State Department and USAID along with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the NGO Freedom House and George Soros’s Open Society Institute.

And the same cast of characters in the recent regime change.

It was a western power play that seems to have gotten out of hand which anyone could have predicted.

They are trying the same thing in Syria currently, did that in Libya, Georgia, Egypt, etc.

37%) of Likely U.S. Voters now fear the federal government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

54% consider the federal government today a threat to individual liberty rather than a protector.

Just 22% see the government as a protector of individual rights,

67%) view the federal government today as a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Just 17% disagree

71%) of voters believe that if America’s Founding Fathers came back today, they would regard the federal government as too big.

Just 19% of voters believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.

73%) of Republicans and 59% of unaffiliated voters view the government as a threat to individual liberty, a view shared by only 34% of Democrats

59%) of Republican voters think Republicans in Congress have lost touch with the party’s base throughout the nation

6%) of voters nationwide now rate Congress’ job performance as good or excellent. Seventy-two percent (72%) say it would be better for the country if most members of the current Congress were defeated this November.

Hey, if John McCain and company wants to reform the Screaming Commandos and take the Washington DC Rifle Battalion to war…then have at it. I am sure they would get a lot of donations as long as they promised to stay over there until the job was done!

You libertarians hate the US so much that you accuse us of “imperialism” while bending yourselves into pretzels justifying Putin’s blatant Empire building in Ukraine.

MWC_RS on April 18, 2014 at 8:04 PM

Anger much, dude? Not all libertarians are the same. I, for one, believe in mitigating potential disaster by a clear demonstration of force. I would have preferred we armed and financially supported Ukranians to fight their own fight, but we absolutely MUST protect a NATO ally. I’ve been wanting us to move our bases in Germany to the eastern front of Poland for the last decade.